Lightning flashed across the skyI am the voice of a thousandCalling, the wind carries the soundon the clefts of desire, I respondThunder rolled across the landAnd I am the voice of a thousand

The curtain was torn from top to twainAnd the dead were raised that daySome weary women watched it allTrembling and bewildered they fled the tombAnd thunder rolled across the landFor they are the voice of a thousand

False ones shall rise, they all shall fallThree times Two thousand is this world oldFive times Four hundred in each two thousandAnd the covenant rang out from the hillsFrom the sky, the shatter rent the Earthand we are the voice of a thousand

I saw a frivolous cow today dancing among the daisiesHow rare is that could she have been stung by a beeBut traipsing gaily upon the field merrily to marketI saw a frivolous cow today and was reminded of God

Lord, please shatter...this granite hard encasement...they built around me...thick timbered walls...slick with the sweat of insanity...break this box...it is all I know...demon bastards surround...they are fatherless...but you are my Father...and you were the only...you were the only one...immaculate...oh precious savior...perpetually divine...shatter the myth...of your...birth...

After reading your ad in the tuesday times I have come to be an avid reader of your Internet Jounal/Newsdesk. This may seem a short time to become one of your largest fans in the midwest, but believe me, it is a rare day when someone sparks such a vein in the truth in these United States.

My father served in the Vietnam War as a Leiutenant in the Air Force in Wichita, Kansas. He was afraid of being drafted into the Army, and figured with me as a newborne, his chances of survival were greater on the homefront. He was a non-participant in the action, but he did serve nontheless. He sat in a bunker for weeks on end with his finger on the big red button that would launch tactical nukes payloaded on Titan II Missles.

My position on war has always been that of reserved optimism. You know that saying: "Expect the best but prepare for the worst." I always felt that hearing my fathers stories was a great relief in those times of hatred and misunderstanding. And I was glad that he chose probably the most passive role he could play (besides communications, cook or chaplain). I would have to say that if I were put in the same place as he, I would have supported my country in a similar manner.

Now i am not fooling anyone into believeing that I actually care about most political issues, but on the subject of war I do have somewhat to say. My favorite Websters dictionary defines terrorism as:

"The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons."

I submit to the readers and to you Mr. Paine that this is what the Almighty W is doing. Use of force for the purposes of coercion for ideological reasons. I cannot say it any other way. What we are doing in the old home of the Babylonian Empire is excactly what Saddam did to the Kurds in the years 1979-1988. Killing those who oppose or threaten you.

Any war waged to the effect of stopping a threat that might exist is ludicrous. Peace keeping forces (no matter who they are and what nation they represent) should have been installed after the Persian Gulf War as was installed by the Allies at the end of WWII, to ensure proper treatment of the Kurds. Or perhaps the U.N. could have officially recognized them and they would have status and control of what happens in and about their land.

Terrorism is wrong. Policing is better. Threats come and go and the potential for war is always there. I say there are other alternatives and there always will be. We must recognize things for what they are and take control of every situation. (here I am talking about the sane world in general, not the United States as we tried to in the 'Nam.) If the threat is too great then there are always alternatives. I do not know if I agree with the policies on the whole Bay of Pigs, but you see what I am getting at here.

I support our country, my family, and those that call the U.S.A. a friend. But i support no authoritative dictator who deems himself the man to hold the answers for a better tomorrow, less bio-chem weapons, and cheaper crude oil.

Play hours all day sun; play, play, play.In the summer sun, warm and shiny.Summer sunshine, summer funshine.Smiles and glistens, warm and friendly.Shimmer and glimmer, warm and nice.Hot and funny, play sun, play.Play on lakes, and play with shade.Play with ice in lemonade.Cheery and happy, careless and free.

Treading the pages of those forgotten books so long agoI remember how it was playing with words and juggling sentences

I had a favorite book of my own and I would read it every nightMy mother would help me with the large words and phrasesCurious George and Clifford the Big Red Dog were fun

My reading has turned me now to wider worlds and landscapesMuch larger than I could have ever imagined on my ownI feel disheartened and lonely when I cannot read anythingFor my books are my friends and I love them allI would do much more reading if I could have the time

You would think that I would get sick of readingThe idea is that once you get used to it you do it moreSometimes this is true other times it is notFor I usually forget to read the most holy bookWhether seventy or one you have to agree

Pilate knew it was going t to be a long day when the Jews were already clamoring at his terrace. “Oh great Caesars! What is it now?” He must have been in a terrible mood. But who could blame him. What a rotten office to be given. Jerusalam… the supposed city of peace. Instead, to him, it was a city of nightmares.

Are you a king?

He knew who Joshua Ben Joseph was. He had heard of him when he cleansed the temple. He had also known about the centurions tales of his servant. He had known about Ben Josephs entrance into the city just days before, and he knew very well about Ben Josephs cousin, John Baptist. Now Pilate just wanted to know the truth. Was this Joshua like the Joshua of old or not? Was he the redeemer, the Christ?

You say correctly that I am a King…

Everyone who is in the truth hears my voice…

That was all he had needed, So, leaning forward in his chair… straining and searching the condemned mans face, he said:

What is truth?

Pilate declared him perfect.

The translation goes: “I find no fault in him at all.”

None? Apparently Pilate was sold on the matter.

“Look, here he is, I am giving him over to you but know this: I do not find any fault in him. He is perfect.”

To prove his point, he made a sign to spite them. It read: “Jesus of Nazarath. King of the Jews.” It was written in three languages. The King. Pilate had switched allegiances. Though he was not a Jew, he realized something powerful. Something true. Jesus as king. Jesus was more powerful than Pilate could ever be, and he could not compete with that. His wife had even told him that.

Pilate is like you or I. We desperately want to find something wrong with Christ so that we may denounce him. Anything. We cannot. We find him perfect everytime. We want to be better than him. But we are not. We cannot even compete. We are left with two choices. Release him, or crucify him.

It all boils down to this. Every person that I have talked to has some grievance against Christianity in one respect or another. But no one I know has a problem with Jesus. Our only problem arises when it comes time to do something with Christ. What is he to us? Is it our part-time thing? Our Sunday Jesus? Or is he the risen King, the Lord of all Lords?

You see, it differs for every man. I do not know the stipulations that are on your life, but I do know this… To one man, he said that he must be born again. Another man was told by him to sell everything that he had and then he would be perfect. But to everyone of his disciples, and to you and I today, he tells us to follow him. He will not turn you away. As the scripture says: “Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

What a simple concept. Following Jesus. What simpler way to lead others than to follow someone in front of you. A good scout follows a path. A good leader follows those that have gone on before him. Lost you may feel, but follow Him, and all will be well.

Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened for you. Follow and you will arrive. Through the cry, the pain, and the goodness. Through the valley of Baca. Through being a witness to the ends of the Earth. Follow Christ and him only.

My friend, my dearest reader, if you follow Jesus with all that is in your heart, you will arrive at truth. We all go from strength to strength. We all go from glory to glory. We will all appear before God in Zion, if we but follow him. He knows you, and he knows your troubles. There are six billion people on this planet and yet, he knows all of us! What a God to love me for who I am. Not because I am doing anything important… but just because I am here.

Ok. Maybe you followed Him, and you felt lead astray. Maybe you gave in. Maybe you felt that the valley was too deep and dark, and you let go. Maybe you quit. It is not too late to start back to him. No one ever succeeds at running away from their problems. Problems always have on better running shoes than us. Pray this prayer from your heart. If it doesn’t seem real enough, then make something up. Just be real with God. He wants you to be one with Him today.

Ultimate truth is Jesus Christ. There is no other way to say it. He was the only true being. For if truth is the embodiment of God, then He was the first of many. As the first of many born from the dead infused with the power of God, so are the sons and daughters of God when they have Christ within.

We who live here in America call ourselves Americans… meaning that we live in America. I as a person who lives in Christ call myself a Christian. For one to acknowledge ultimate truth, I must acknowledge Him who sent it. That Person is Jesus Christ.

There is no other man who walked the crust of this earth to claim that. From the five major branches of religion we have only one who has ever fulfilled prophesy to the extreme that Christ did. We see in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam God depicted as “El” (translated “Al” in Arabic). He is seen as supreme, eternal and the composite of all truth. Within these three major monotheistic (meaning: one God) religions, we are all seen as the children of Adam, Noah, and Abraham. The only difference is that within the bounds of Christianity we are able to become one with the creator of the cosmos. We are to be friends with the Truth.

Buddhism and Hinduism hold that all incarnation is God. Rocks, trees, angels, cows, clouds, butterflies… these all hold spirits of the deity. Everything is “god”. They believe that all lives are subjective to the greatness of everything. They see that there are as many truths in the cosmos as there are molecules, and they are all valid and of equal importance. Christianity however has a much different viewpoint. We see lower beings as who they are, created things in the spirit of the Creator. Angels are not god themselves but they are Elohim. They are a secondary spiritual power. Whether still in the service of God or not, they are not god in themselves. Fallen spirits have the mane given to them of “devils”. We do not worship them, we worship the one who made them, and who made everything.

Judaism waits for its messiah. Islam has had more than five messiahs, but Christianity holds Jesus Christ as the only and true Messiah. For over thirty years, from physical birth to assention, Jesus Christ performed over forty miracles, fulfilled over twenty major prophesies, and even raised three people from the dead (including himself). In contrast, Islam’s Mohammed only fulfilled one prophesy, did no miracles, and raised no one from the dead. The prophesy he fulfilled? He stated “I will return to Mecca.” Easy one. You or I could do that. There’s not much power behind that.

As we discussed in a previous chapter, the sum of his words are truth. That brings us to the canonized Bible, what we commonly call the sixty-six books (really seventy books… Psalms is a collection of five books). Genesis to Revelation. Excluding the Apocrypha of course.

At the canonization, different books were tossed around, different views held. The Gospel of Thomas, The secret writings of John, Polycarps Epistles, The book of Enoch, Ecclesiasticus…etc… Those in charge of the selections entered into the task of selecting the ones with great care and prayer. The canonization was fasted over and prayed over heavily. All men believed these books to be the only books to be included in the word of God for all people. There was a rumor of a man who believed a certain book to be included in the word, and announced to those assembled that if it wasn’t to be included in the Bible, that he was to be struck dead by God himself. The next day he was found dead… having expired in his sleep of natural causes.

We know our Bible exists today as God breathed and inspired. There were over forty authors writing over a one thousand year period about the same thing. The Truth of God. Amos was a farmer. Moses was an outlaw. Solomon was a king. Peter was a fisherman, and Paul was a rabbi… All from walks of life and yet, as a whole, the Bible has changed and affected more lives than any book ever made.

Still holding the number one place in three categories… The number one book ever sold or bought, the most read book in all of history, and the most stolen book in history. In any language, in any translation, version or paraphrase, the Bible calls out to men both far and wide begging to be read and understood.

Do we dare to confront this book with our own puny opinion? Like Jim Jones, throw the book down to the floor declaring that we have reached a point in our own personal theology that we no longer need it? Do we do as Benjamin Franklin did, and cut out the parts that offend us? Ha. My friend, I for one would rather tie a boulder around my neck and pray that rocks float as I cast myself into the ocean than to take anything away from the Word of God.

Ultimate truth is Jesus Christ. Ultimate truth is found in the word, for as John says in the gospel of John, chapter one, verse fourteen: And the word became flesh and lived among us. The great Apostle Paul strove to know nothing but Christ and him crucified. Even Jesus Christ said of himself: I am the bread of life, He who comes to me need never hunger, and he who believes in me need never thirst.

In February of 1995, my wife and I were in the coffeeshop business. It had been a rough transition for the both of us, being recently married and just having moved into our new house. It is a story in itself of how we acquired the coffeeshop, and how we envisioned it as a soul-saving shop for Jesus. Well, as it turned out, unequipped and untrained for this kind of venture, we landed on troubled times. We grew apart and our marriage was on the rocks. Unwilling to keep the commitment, we separated and I kept the coffeeshop going.

So there I was, supposedly running a Christian coffee house with an eminent divorce looming over me. Neither my wife or I was nice to the other, and we were no example of the love we professed Christ to have. The house that we had purchased, we were forced to sell back to the realtor and eventually I closed the coffeeshop. During that time, I had two of my best friends die of drug related misuse, my step-mother and my remaining grandfather died. Shortly thereafter, I totaled my car, almost killing two people in the process. Let me tell you the truth… I was in the valley of darkness.

In the book of the Psalms, Chapter eighty four, Verses five thru seven; the sons of Korah write about being in the valley. “Blessed is he whose strength is in (The Lord), whose heart is set upon the pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a spring… They go from strength to strength until each one appears before God in Zion.”

“Baca” in Hebrew means brokenness, or in other words the lowest time in their life. The lowest of the low. The uttermost. I was defiantly there in that time in my life. I had come into the valley of weeping. I had made it a spring with my tears. My valley was my life. It was all that I knew. I knew nothing else but pain at that time in my journey. I thought I would stay at that point for the rest of my life. I didn’t see the way out of the valley. I figured that I was stuck there. However…

Oh how I love “howevers”!

However, my heart was set on the pilgrimage. My strength was in Him. I honestly can say that I did not have any surplus of strength to divvy out to any of my friends, but I did have my strength in Christ. All I had was in him. There was only one bright speck on my horizon, and that was Jesus Christ himself.

Have you ever heard Church people talk about going on from glory to glory? Have you ever seen in your life where you are going from strength to strength? To find out if this is real strength and real glory, you should be looking for the valleys. Oh it is hard to be going through those valleys, but remember what it was like before the valley. It will be good again after this valley. Is there a low point before the high point? There has to be… We go from strength to strength until we all appear before God in Zion.

Life will always have its ups. When my wife and I first started the coffeeshop we had so much fun, there was excitement and the thrill was in the air. It was great! But life also has its valleys. My dearest reader, you would do well to remember that in each valley, Christ is there. Or have you forgotten Davids twenty third Psalm? It goes something like this:

“Even though I walk thru the valley of the fear of death, I won’t be afraid, because you are with me! You are with me in my pain. You make me lie down and enjoy your presence. You fulfill me even in my pain. Surely goodness and mercy will relentlessly pursue me every day of my life and I will live in your house forever, Oh Lord.”

Wow. What a promise. To have God be at the end of the quest. To know that no matter what baptism of pain you may be going through, He is there. Waiting, waiting, waiting… until… ZAP! Mercy comes in and floods your soul, and there is is the light at the end of the tunnel. Your ship comes in. Your life has meaning.

ZAP! Glory to glory! ZAP! Goodness and mercy! ZAP! Appearing before God in Zion! ZAP! Dwelling in the house of the Lord forever!

Here are the steps that we must have to release ourselves from the culture in which we live, as well as the steps that will help you find the path of truth.

First is the cry of separation. In the self-titled book of Jeremiah, chapter twenty three, verses nine and ten, Jeremiah is, as usual, bemoaning his souls anguish over the land of adulterers in which he lives. He said: “All my bones ache, I am as a drunkard because of the Lord… The land mourns because of their curse… Their course of life is evil and their might is not right.” He saw the separation between him and the sins of his community. The differences between himself and his culture. He saw what was true and what was false in the world at that time.

See this now. Jeremiah recognizes his position within the social setting and sees himself as set apart. In the Hebrew language, “set apart” is the definition of “holy”. We must have that cry. We have to recognize our surroundings as not part of ourselves… but rather like oil and water in the same vial, separate from one another. This is one of the largest lies that I find Christians living in. That they are the person that others see. We must understand that who we are and what we do are different from one another. We must find the pain of our sin and set ourselves apart from it, and say to ourselves: “Here is my sin. It is not part of me and I must divorce myself from it.”

Secondly is the pain of understanding. Pain is not bad. Pain is a message sending service that the human brain uses to receive messages from the vast reaches of the human body. In our culture, we have been programmed to believe that we must stop pain at all costs. Quick, get the bandages! Get the local anesthetic! Cure the symptoms at all costs, but ignore the malady. Pain is good. Pain lets us know that something needs to be fixed. It is like the warning lights of an automobile. It is not wisdom to take a hammer and smash the lights out! Fix it, don’t ignore it.

One of my favorite passages of scripture comes from the book of Jeremiah, chapter eight verse eighteen thru chapter nine, verse two. In this, we see that Jeremiah has already separated himself from his culture, he has seen the evil of it and now he must establish himself as a bastion of hope, a refuge, a voice. He says: “Oh that my head were many waters and my eyes a fountain so that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of my people.” This pain is eminent for those who wish to see the truth, the ultimate truth un their lives… For how can you help someone, how can you separate yourself from someone whom you are not willing to weep over first.

Thirdly is the goodness of God. Here we go again back to the good old book of Jeremiah. Let’s look at chapter twenty three and verses three thru six. Jeremiah says that a king will reign in those days and all of Judah will be saved. The payoff of the crying. The realization of the pain. The pinnacle of the hope. That Christ is here and is our king to save us.

Hope, I believe is the path. To find yourself. To find your culture. And then to separate the two from one another. To begin to see yourself in that sinking, scary and often traumatic realization. Finding yourself there you must learn to cling to the one who is ultimately in control of the universe. Realizing that this is not yourself, you turn to another source. The source that is Christ alone.

Finding Him, you might say is the hardest thing to do. Perhaps you look at is as being found. This may be a more suitable situation to be in anyway. We don’t have to do all the looking. All we have to do is call out to Him. All we have to do in our humanity is give the control over to God. For to do this we find ourselves at his feet. As the character Pilgrim did in John Bunyans book Pilgrims Progress, unload your guilt and sin on the cross of conviction. To have been found by Jesus, is to be that wayward sheep forlorn and distraught… To have the chief shepherd rescue consol and love you. Both are crucial to the goodness of God. We must find God and be found by him. Then we will be able to say with Jeremiah: “The voice of gladness and of joy… I will cause the captives to return to the land of the first.” And in all of it, we behold the goodness of God.

On March 26, 1997, the cult known as Heavens gate believed that they were going to be picked up by the alien mothership that was trailing the Halle-Bopp Comet. Using the internet, they spread their ideas far and wide, inviting the serious and committed to join them on their quest for ultimate truth. Then as the comet passed, they committed group suicide. Living and dying for their idea of truth.

This is not the first instance of a sub-culture (or in this case a cult) tying their lives to the ideas of the truth. Let’s look at the Jonestown Massacre. The Peoples Temple comprised of 913 souls… Many of them were children. They died following one mans idea of truth. Every year hundreds of people die for what they believe is the truth. Buddhist monks ignite themselves on fire for their beliefs. Political prisoners are executed for their beliefs that differ from their country. Even mortal danger can be included here. I had a friend in college who was at Tieneman Square in Beijing during the riots there. His belief in something so strong, that he was willing to risk life and (possibly worse), social isolation led him to participate in activities not in accordance with the plans of Chairman Mao Tse Dung.

The apostles of the Christian faith were all (save one) killed for their beliefs. St. Peter the apostle was made to witness his wife and children executed before his eyes. As he saw his wife crucified before him, he called out to her: “Remember the cross!” And even he, unwilling to find himself worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord did, offered to be crucified upside-down.

Such was Peters belief in the truth. His truth. This great man was born into his culture, was married, had a fine job and a good life. What prompted him to so drastically change his entire viewpoint. What was it that upset his world so much that he (after spending only three years with Jesus Christ) would renounce his old lifestyle and embrace this new one… Even to the point of death?

When the son of man appears will he find faith on the earth? I often wonder about this. Do we as Peter did, so adamantly believe in the Truth that we are willing to attach our lives to it? To face persecution? Ridicule? Martyrdom? In the book of the Revelations of St. John, we see in chapter twelve and verse eleven that “they” meaning “we” overcame by three things. The blood of the lamb, the words of our testimony, and that we laid down our lives. The word “witness” means in the Greek language: Martyr. This translation gives a whole new meaning to the scripture found in the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter one, verse eight… We will be his witnesses in Jerusalam, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (emphasis mine).

Where is this truth that I am speaking of? Not in government, not in educational institutions, not in church, but in the hearts of men. To those indoctrinated by the facts about God I may seem cold and blasphemous to group together St. Peter with the likes of Jim Jones. But to those infused with the truths of God, you will see that I am only speaking of the similarities of willpower when involved in your moral code. For most people, acceptance of a particular doctrine is largely attributed to birthplace, family, upbringing, music and the culture around you. This is not to say that they (or even you) cannot rise above these traits and believe in something higher than the beliefs around them. As a point, it is the person who decides what is best for them. Whether to accept and live in this doctrine, or to rise above and take a vantage point above their doctrine, and find a way to confront the issues that so bother them. They are the proverbial square peg in the round hole.

In the book of Galatians, chapter five and verse thirteen, it is stated that we were all called to freedom but not to use our freedom to indulge in the sinful nature… However we should serve one another in love. When we do see ourselves as free, it is then that we are able to break the idioms that so hold us down to our past, and grasp the new and higher path. The path of truth as written in the Word of God.

What is that path? Where can we find our ultimate truth? What brings our true being into that place where we “see” ourselves and break the chains that held us in the past. In the next chapter we will discuss the three steps that you must have to find the truth of God in your life.

What is the whole truth? As discussed before, the Bible declares itself as the truth. The sum of Gods words translated in perfect condition are true words indeed. The word of God is the written tradition that transcends any other tradition handed down in any culture it permeates.

Every culture has its own folklore. Its own history. The most wonderful thing in my opinion about the word of God is that it gives us guidelines for every culture on this planet Earth. The entire basis to build any culture on.

Every culture declares oral tradition as well as written to its initiates. Whether they be born into the society or be converts, defectors, or immigrants. The tradition handed down to United States citizens lies along the vein of George Washington, Daniel Boone, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and the like. But these traditional stories also hold cultural truths as well. Like the cultural truth that telling lies is wrong. (i.e. George Washington chopping down the cherry tree).

Every “ethos” as the Bible describes in the book of the book of Revelations chapter five, verse nine and again in chapter seven, verse nine; the word sets upon itself certain views of what is right and what is wrong. Here I am not referring to “laws”. I am talking about morals per se. I am talking about the complete ethos of what is true and what is false.

It is not fair to say that there is just one culture of the U.S.A. There are hundreds. Perhaps thousands of justifiable culture groups represented here. So, perhaps someone deep in the neck of some wood is raised with the ideology that people of a darker color are to be treated as animals. Morally, they can engage in murdering those people without breaching his moral code, whatsoever. On the same token, there are perhaps those who have been raised with the opposite views. That those of a lighter color are naught but monsters to be taken out of their supposed power. That person can engage in a violent act of what the rest of the geo-political country would agree to be wrong. However, morally these people are not committing a crime in their own mind. Morals. If “White Supremicy” or “Black Power” is your moral mindset, then you are free to act within it.

In the U.S.A., there is the “collective moral attitude” that these two extremes are wrong. What makes them wrong? What makes us decide that THIS is wrong or THIS is right. There are two main things in this country, The first was that it was founded on the word of God, and the second is the fact that there are so many diverse cultures here… It makes it very easy to find the middle ground of morality. Now you and I know that a “good balance” is no substitution for the word of God. You and I know that to have any truth or falsehood, we must first go back to the one who gave them to us to begin with. Back to God. Not just parts of him. Not the tidbits that fit you. But the entirety of Him.

One of the chief examples of not taking the sum of Gods word as truth is the example of Apartheid. Apartheid was the practice of racial segregation in South Africa from 1951-1991. The Afrikaners (Those white south Africans of predominantly Dutch and German descent) put into slavery those of the Zulu, Swazi and other black tribes. Apartheid reigned when the Afrikaners were in power. Part of what the Afrikaners believed at that time was that all blacks were marked for their sin, as mandated by God. This is a misrepresentation of the scripture when God marks Cain for his sin against Able.

What was the belief of this culture? How did they take one verse of scripture and determine what should be done from there to so many a people? Was it the “truth” that made them “right”? What I mean by that is that “right and wrong” are here (and oftentimes elsewhere) confused with “true and false”. These mix-ups have been the cause of many a Governmental error. There have been executions, beating, jailings, and many other atrocities for the incorrect perception of truth. Just because one truth is present, doesn’t mean that you exclude the contexts of the truths around it. You cannot pick and choose which truths are right for you. All the truth of the word of God is truth for you. Whether you agree or must force yourself to submit. It is true nonetheless.

The common but gross mistake is to take the Bible and fit it into your culture. What is correct is to have the culture fit into the Bible. The reliability of the Word is always there. Whenever you (or your culture as a whole) ever runs into a seemingly unsolvable predicament… you may always look to the word. On the converse, a culture that lets the Bible fit into the gaps and chinks of their cultural identity will surly crumble when stress comes. The Bible is not intended to be a patchwork to “fix-all” in your life. It was and is intended to be the very foundation of any existance… personal, as a culture, or as we have in this country, a network of cultures that make up our make-up.

The word of God says that the sum of His words are truth. I have often come across this thought in my daily ponderings. If the sum of His words are truth, then what are the chapters? What are the phrases or sentences? Is it a whole truth, Or can we take it piece by piece? Is there only a small bit inside of the word that is true and the rest builds up to that truth? Or perhaps only a piece is “separated” or “holy”, and the rest… well. No. All of His words are truth. They are all true and truthful. And the sum of (or the completeness of them) is indeed all truth.

For God, perfect is perfect. Right is right and wrong is wrong. But most importantly true is true. God is best described as holy and true. No other two words describe Him so well. Even the angels as are written about them in the book of Revelations know this. They stand around and say: “Holy, holy, holy”. They don’t say: “Wonderful, powerful, lovely”. Tell me, where is holiness? Where is truth? Can they be bought at the local market? Can they be purchased at the local convenience store? No dear reader, truth is found nowhere else but in the arms of God.

Let us look a deeper than where it is found. Let us look at what it is. What is truth? Even as technology changes and our laws change, does the truth change? Is it a relative subject under the influences of change and culture? Is it based upon laws? Upon morals? Perhaps it is based upon our abilities as humans (or inabilities). What is truth? God is truth. God is immutable and He never changes.

It was mid afternoon and the flies droned lazily about the musty old school room. Mr. Richards had taken his usual posture leaning on the table and was discussing modern church theology. Although not asleep, the students’ glazed eyes were indicative of the utter boredom of yet another impassionate lecture about confession and baptismal rites.

Questions within each of the students hearts arose, tried to surface out of their heads, but eventually drowned again within the monologue. The students bodies were prone, but minds were listless, apprehensive, and on the majority, fifteen years old. Although not one year out of seminary, Mr. Richards had attained the heart of a scholar of many years.

Although each of the students were required to take the class we were all from various backgrounds and therefore were not in total agreement with the teachers appraisals of modern Christianity. Time grew long and surprisingly he touched upon a subject that he wanted a response to. What was baptism about? Was it necessary for eternal security? Was it sprinkling? Immersion? Was it important?

After some discussion he declared that the church had all the answers to these types of questions. That church polity was and should be the instructor for this spiritual dilemma. Although fifteen years myself, I had been brought up to believe that no matter what the church said, the Bible was always the final say involving dispute… especially those of a spiritual nature. So I raised my hand.

All eyes were on me. I asked Mr. Richards if he actually knew what the word baptism meant. No response. I asked for a dictionary. No response. After an uncomfortable pause, I got up and proceeded to get a dictionary from the front desk. The verdict for my sincerity? I was sent to the principals office.

Now I do not share this story to speak ill of any parochial Institution of learning, to expose the shortsightedness of any professor or teacher, and I am not bragging on the audacious qualities of my pre-pubescent self. What I am doing is asking why we are more concerned with the opinions of our local church or denomination than we are of our Bible? Should we blindly trust the decisions made by others or try to find the truth of any matter? Should we seek for ultimate truth and drink it whole… or merely skim the surface of it?